These Gorgeous Things

Unfurling

straight out of

the canvas,

These gorgeous things

attack,

taking me

hostage;

quivering, exploding

in rapid-fire beauty,

I have no defense –

densely tilting,

relentlessy sloping

downward.

I am dizzy

from the vibrations

of color,

and swoon

with sickness.

—-

You must hold

me down

Lest I

swallow

it whole.

I wrote this into my cell phone notes while visiting the Van Gogh Up Close exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Godspeed

I am

a nervous

wreck

from the other

side of town;

The king

of collapse,

piled up

in pieces.

—

Go ahead

and stare

me down.

Burnt

Sky’s on fire

this morning

looks as if

the whole earth

might burn up

in a day.

***

That, or else

we’ll die

from too much

beauty.